HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT TOURNAMENT

After a host of games played at home, it now becomes travel time for the St. Michael’s boys basketball team.

Not happy about how the seeding coin toss went, the 3rd-seeded Horsemen now head north on Interstate 25 to play at 2nd-seeded Raton tonight and decide who gets to play at top-seeded Robertson Saturday for the District 2-3A championship.

But that’s the way the ball bounces and the coin drops, so the Tigers (16-7)

are home this time, but hopeful of traveling south on Saturday.

But St. Michael’s isn’t making a fuss about it, and the 59-41 quarterfinals win over visiting Santa Fe Indian School Thursday night brought it the lengthy trip.

The shaky 0-10 and 2-12 season starts are history, for now it’s playing for a berth in the state tournament. It split the two regular-season games against Raton, both winning by 10 points. Then came the point differential.

From the dismal start, the Horsemen have won 12 of 15 and 10 of their last 11, and are the only team in district to defeat Robertson. That was at home, but at the Cardinals, it was a loss.

On this night it was senior Devin Flores who sparked the win over the 4th-seeded Braves. He scored 25 of his game-high 31 points in the second half

It was only a 11-8 lead after one quarter, but St. Michael’s began the second quarter with 17 unanswered points to grab a 28-8 lead.

Indian School did respond with a 19-2 run that got it within 32-30 in the third quarter, but that’s when Flores lit the spark by tossing in 14 of his team’s 16 points in that quarter and adding 11 more over the final eight minutes to drop the Braves to 9-15 overall.

But for the Horsemen, it’s all worth the traveling that has brought four games in four days, and if they emerge victorious at Raton, it would be six in eight days via the ride to Robertson.

Also on Friday night, the 2nd-seeded Santa Fe High boys play at top-seeded Los Lunas for the District 5-5A title. Then there’s the 2nd-seeded Demonetes traveling to No. 1 seed Albuquerque High, both games scheduled for 7 o’clock tip-offs.

In girls play, 2nd-seeded Santa Fe Indian School defeated visiting St. Michael’s, 49-39, to advance to Friday night‘s 2-3A title game at top-seeded Robertson. In the 2-4A title game, No. 1 seeded Taos is home to Moriarty, which disposed of visiting Espanola Valley, 55-44, in the semifinals.

In 2-2A, it’s Estancia at Academy of Technology and The Classics in a 5:30start.